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HD DVD Encryption Hacked!

forum.doom9.org — It looks like someone finally did it! "BackupHDDVD is a tool to decrypt a AACS protected movie that you own, so you can play it back later using an HDDVD player software."

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  • krolls, on 10/12/2007, -3/+163It might be worth getting that xbox HD DVD drive now
    • 2007, on 10/12/2007, -260/+27But will it blend?
    • neuropsychguy, on 10/12/2007, -13/+109Ok, that "But will it blend?" was almost funny the first time but now is just really old.
    • Salviati, on 10/12/2007, -6/+234Ironically for the HD-DVD creators, this may actually ensure that HD-DVD wins the format war in the long run. Many people despise DRM, and would support it based on the fact that it has been compromised.
    • hammydude, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14http://www.duggmirror.com
    • deaper, on 10/12/2007, -13/+318And it's official. HD DVD has just won the High Def format war.
    • craterburnsu, on 10/12/2007, -16/+32@Salviati

      It's not necessarily about the people supporting it. It's the Studios. People only buy things they want, and if the studio who makes their favorite movies sees that HD DVD can be pirated, they may just chose to only publish on BluRay, which means the consumer will HAVE to buy Bluray if they want their favorite movie in HD.
    • krakelohm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+46Don't both HD-DVD and BluRay use AACS?
    • elmasri, on 10/12/2007, -7/+35Ugh, not so fast. Each HD DVD device has a key, while one key can indeed be broken, the content providers can blacklist it from future content.
    • SonnyW, on 10/12/2007, -4/+38Even if it can be pirated, I'm still skipping this generation.
    • pipdip, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Great News!

      Honestly though, is this a huge surprise? I think we all thought AACS would be cracked one day. However, I think it happened a little earlier than we thought. Is anything, none the less a target the size of AACS, unbreakable? ;)
    • Salviati, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12@craterburnsu

      Your point is valid too, but keep in mind that the players have already been available for a while, and HD-DVD already seems to have an advantage. It is much cheaper for people to buy a $200 add-on HD-DVD player for their XBOX360 (which has already been modded for regular computers) than to get a $500+ Blueray player. If enough people get the HD-DVD drives just to experiment with the hack, it may tip the scale (considering the apparent flop of the PS3 so far).
    • pipdip, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20Any word on converting one of these movies to Xvid or something? Obviously uncompressed is way too big but I'd love to see some HD movies in Xvid without any tags.
    • brooklynboy, on 10/12/2007, -40/+9@Salviati

      "It is much cheaper for people to buy a $200 add-on HD-DVD player for their XBOX360 (which has already been modded for regular computers) than to get a $500+ Blueray player. If enough people get the HD-DVD drives just to experiment with the hack, it may tip the scale (considering the apparent flop of the PS3 so far)."

      Actually, if you buy a PS2 you're paying $600 for a Blu-Ray player. The cost of an XBOX360 is $400, plus the cost of the HD-DVD add on brings it right up to the cost of a PS3, so that argument is moot.

      A stand alone HD-DVD player is almost $500, and a stand alone Blu-Ray player is $558 - or, roughly the cost of a PS3. So for those gamers who truly want to mess with the next generation of technology at a cheaper price, you'd be smart to opt for a PS3 instead of having to continuously add on.

    • generalleoff, on 10/12/2007, -8/+27A format war implies you can go to the store and buy the same content on multiple formats. You can't do that with HD-DVD and BlueRay therefore there is no format war between the two. Half the studios use one and the other half use the other. If you pick one over the other you only get half the movies so both will succeed or both will die. The solution to the "problem" on the consumer end is a multi format player. If I have a player that can play both I really could not care less what brand of disc it is. It will be completely transparent to me.
    • RAT-Man, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4Why would it be worth it? If other people are going to rip the content, why fork over $200 when others will do it for you.
    • deanlowe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17I'll wait until there are cheap HD-DVD/BluRay blanks.
    • razordancer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@pipdip

      I was wondering about this myself. I did some asking and my friend said that compressed 720p movies are usually DVD5 size, 1080p are DVD9 sizes, with the rare 1080p 'release' that hits 11-12 gigs. Most of these releases use the .mkv container and h.264.
    • wolfzero, on 10/12/2007, -8/+42The FAQ:

      -What is "Backup HDDVD" for?

      It can do backup copies of HD DVD movies that YOU OWN! I don't want anyone to do
      piracy here! This software is a good way to protect your investment, because I have
      notice that this type of media seems very fragile, if it's scratched a little or
      dirty, it won't play. It seems less tolerent than DVD format. (Higher density!)


      -What "Backup HDDVD" is doing exactly?

      This is a java based command line utility that decrypt video files (.evo) from a
      HD DVD disk that you own, to your hard drive and you can play them back with a
      HD DVD player software.


      -What are the system requirements to use "Backup HDDVD"

      1 - A Windows based system
      2 - A HDDVD disk drive
      3 - A HDDVD player software (like PowerDVD)
      4 - A HDDVD movie(s)
      5 - Java rutime 1.5
      6 - The possibility to access the content of the disk with a drive letter under windows.
      (you may need UDF 2.5 file system driver for this)
      7 - A lot of free hard disk space to backup your movies!


      -Was your first HDDVD movie hard to decrypt?

      It took me around a week to do. But I have wasted few days
      trying to work on too complicated approach. In fact, it is very simple.


      -How do you do that?

      The program itself has nothing special. It simply implement the AACS
      decyption protocol. I have followed the freely available documents about AACS
      Have a look at: www.aacsla.com
      The trick, is to find what they call the "Title keys". So I figure out how to
      extract them.


      -How do you extract the "Title keys"?

      I won't explain it in detail. Read the AACS doc first. You will understand.
      The title keys are located on the disk in encrypted form, but for a
      content to be played, it has to be decrypted! So where is the
      decrypted version of the title key? Think about it...


      -What kind of crypto algorithms are involved?
      Standards algorithms:
      ECC-160
      AES-128

      Look in the AACS doc for more details.


      -What is the TKDB.cfg file?

      This is the Title key Database file. It holds the decryption keys for the movies.


      -What is the format of this file?

      Field 1: SHA1 Hash of the VTKF000.AACS file on your HDDVD disk.

      Next fields are pipe "|" delimited.

      -Movie Title
      -A variable number of Title key, pipe delimited

      You have a key number followed by the key value like:

      12-08A3DC61910280F2...

      Key values are 128 bits long, so 16 bytes, or 32 hexadecimal characters long.


      -The TKDB.cfg file provided with your program is empty or incomplete, what can I do?

      Well, you are on your own.


      -What do you think of the technical aspects of AACS?

      The design is not that bad, but it's too easy to have an insecure player
      implementation somewhere. And just one bad implementation is all it needs
      to get the keys! There will always be insecure implementations
      of a player somewhere! And the "Revocation system" is totaly useless if you use
      the Title key directly.


      -Is there any known problems with the decryption?

      Yes. I call this problem the "Nav chain" bug. I realize that I have a lot of
      frame skipping at playback after the decryption, so I hunted down the problem.
      To avoid the frame skipping, I patch the video file.
      This fix allows smooth playback of the movie, but there are some side effects.


      -What are the side effects of the "Nav chain" bug fix?

      You cannot do fast forward, or backward using the round dial, but you can still
      use the progress bar to navigate through the film. So it's not that bad...

      For some reason, the sub-titles don't seems to work anymore.
      It may be a side effect of the nav chain bug. But may be not...


      -Why the "Nav chain" bug is called the "Nav chain" bug?

      Well, it has something to do with the chaining of navigation pack.
      Look at some doc about standard DVD VOB file, you will see.
      If someone wants to help me with that bug, please do!


      -Are you going to support Blu-Ray?

      I don't own a Blu-Ray drive!


      -Do you plan to do a user interface version?

      No, other people will do. You have the source code, so enjoy it!


      -Do you plan to do a Linux version?

      See the previous answer.
      I don't use any windows specific API and this is a java application!
      A port to Linux will be easy.


      -Can you send me some decryption keys? PLEASE!

      No.

      YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oZGYb92isE
    • cecil_t, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21@brooklynboy

      Maybe you missed it, but you can hook up the Xbox 360 HD-DVD players to a PC directly via USB, so no, you don't need to buy the Xbox 360. You can just spend the $200.

      http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/features/2170703/xbox360-hd-dvd-pc
      http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2006/11/8303/
    • RevMark, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31I would not be supprised if the HD-DVD Consortium released the hack into the wild themselves to ensure that they win the Hgh Def DVD wars.
    • prh99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@SonnyW yes but they need to know what key has been compromised and it does nothing about content that's already on the market.
    • Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13It's a good step but I'll wait for HD-DVD Shrink.
    • khyberkitsune, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@SonnyW

      If it can be pirated then I can play it on my computer.

      why bother with trying to burn it to disc? Straight from the HDD to my already HD screen in front of my face, with a killer sound system.
    • endekks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7You know, the anti-Sony bias is even more present here. The fact that HD-DVD (which is supported by Microsoft) is now hacked, everyone says "Now MS will win the next gen war and Blu-Ray is doomed". But I bet that if BR had been hacked the EXACT same people would say "Now MS will win the next gen war and Blu-Ray is doomed because it's been hacked! When will Sony ever learn?".

      Well guess what people, PS2 and DVD and other things have been hacked, and it doesn't mean the end of anything. This "either or" philosophy most of the Diggers have astounds me with its ignorance.

      And yes, I expect to have a negative digg rating.
    • jtjdt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While I look at this digg, there is a sony Blu ray ad in the upper right corner of my screen. Yah, HD-DVD definitely won.
    • ElMoselYEE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@endekks

      you're reaching with your assumption. people would not say HD-DVD will win if Blu-Ray got cracked first. plain and simple (forget about the company biases), a cracked format means we can watch it on our computer, backup our movies, and now download movies off the internets in HD. there's no way someone in their right mind would say, "***** it's been hacked, this format is doomed".

      plus...when has digg ever been pro-microsoft? i think diggers hate microsoft and sony equally, thus there is no bias here -- HD-DVD is winning.
    • endekks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0"you're reaching with your assumption. people would not say HD-DVD will win if Blu-Ray got cracked first."
      Riiiiiiiiiiight. Because history on Digg has shown that anything pertaining to Sony is always as positively as things relating to MS. "There are 7 unsold PS3s at my local Best Buy / Yodobashi - The end of Sony draws near!" or "eBay resellers are not making a killing any more... SONY IS TEH DOOMEDZORZ!" We neeeeeever see any comments like that.

      "there's no way someone in their right mind would say, "***** it's been hacked, this format is doomed"."
      Now I think you're reaching... You're operating under the assumption that most people here aren't ignorant fanboys who easily misinterpret and grotesquely extrapolate on tiny bits of data.

      "plus...when has digg ever been pro-microsoft? i think diggers hate microsoft and sony
      Again... Riiiiiiiiiight. I never said it has been pro MS anyway. But the anti-Sony hype is far greater than the anti-MS hype form last year. All people said mostly last year was "360 is impossible to find!!!". Some people bitched about the 3 rings of death, but with MUCH less fervour than we see for anything related to Sony. Let's not neglect the fact that the only thing outside of availability (because MS suffered the same fate) that people bitch about the PS3 is its price. Of course feature for feature (meaning - equipping an HD-DVD drive to the 360) means that you end up paying just a tiny bit more for the 360 than you do for the PS3, albeit you lose out on Wi-Fi and 40GB of HD space. No... No one here ever points that out.

      Instead, we have people reaching constantly for anything to put down Sony. "Motorstorm in Japan sucks... Sony is doomed!" or "The launch library for the PS3 isn't super strong. The death bell tolls for Sony! LOL!" It doesn't matter that the 360 had an equally ***** launch line-up (anyone actually finish Perfect Dark? Is Ridge Racer 6 really that much different from Ridge Racers for PSP?)

      And how about the fact that people say here "HD-DVD is hacked, so MS will win" should also mean that since the PSP has been hacked that people should consider Sony to be triumphant in some way or another? I know a truckload of people who weren't really into PSP now actively going out to get them so they can play their old PS1 games on the go. And yet all we get is "Another defeat for Sony! PSP hacked! Will Sony ever learn?"

      And I won't even get into the whole representation that people here have that people are only allowed to buy a 360 OR a PS3. No, it's be impossible for someone to do both and enjoy them each on their own merits. We have got to have it either or.

      The fact is, Digg is anti-Sony. And saying it isn't won't change the fact or the mountain of evidence.
    • adamnikyo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ endekks

      you've just made one of the worst arguments i've ever seen. you're telling us that people are only calling this a victory for HD DVD because HD DVD is MS backed, and that if it were Blu Ray being cracked, we'd all be saying it's going to be the downfall of Blu Ray because it's so anti-Sony around here. then you go on to counter your own argument with the declaration that the PS2 and DVD were cracked and both were huge successes, which is exactly what everyone is saying about HD DVD.
    • endekks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I never implied HD DVD will "win" because it is MS backed. And I especially did not counter my argument. I stated the idiocy of what people here believe and then provided my own beliefs to counter it.

      Have fun learning logic and red herrings and then see you around later.
    • S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0He did not break AACS. He merely broke the player software which obviously had the unencrypted title key in memory somewhere. AACS uses AES 128 bit encryption. There is no way he broke the encryption since it is sate of the art encryption used for all sorts of things besides DRM. If AES was broken this would have more of a significance than just HD-DVDs. The poster even admitted he used open source decryption software and he merely fed it the title key he grabbed from the player to decrypt the disc outside of the player.

      The code is useless without the title keys. You can only get the title keys by taking advantage of mis-coded players that don't handle the keys properly. So to sum it up, AACS was not broken, but a bad player implementation was broken.
    • Jacksthebest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0should have done that a while ago , but still a good idea
  • metalica77, on 10/12/2007, -72/+3duplicate story

    http://digg.com/security/AACS_DRM_HDDVD_and_Blue_Ray_Cracked_By_BackupHDDVD_Tool#c4443765
    • logophilus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Engadget links to this doom9 post. This post is the original.
    • usernameistaken, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Seeing as to how that link was posted later, that would make that link the duplicate and this story the original submission.
  • logophilus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8This release won't crack HD-DVDs without non-trivial effort on the user's side of things. The version linked to only supports decryption using title keys and no title keys are included. It's got a ways to go, but the software does what it says it will on the thread.

    I am eagerly anticipating January 2.
    • newtbrick, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Something tells me that the author of this program will be deep underground in some windowless jail cell before he can make the January 2 release.
    • synapseattack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26"Something tells me that the author of this program will be deep underground in some windowless jail cell before he can make the January 2 release."

      The Source Code is out. It is on the net. They can not put that genie back in the bottle. They can lock up one programmer and 10 more will take his place. Let them try to stop it. It will get funny as they fluster.
    • AnotherBrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I think the point it that it reads the title key from the disk and gets the device key from whatever HDDVD playback software installed.

      This is the reason why DRM will always be crackable, the audio/video files may be encrypted but the key MUST be available to the the playback client and intercepting it is only a matter of discovering what memory address it's hiding in.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Um, as far as I can tell he's using perfectly legal tools. They used a standard AACS encryption algorithm which is publicly available and has publicly available decryption methods in Java.
    • P5ycHo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16"Something tells me that the author of this program will be deep underground in some windowless jail cell before he can make the January 2 release."

      Not everyone lives in the US with it's coldwar eastern germany laws.
    • mendigg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0The author of clause has mentioned and has opened excellent and a vital topic presently. Clause is written interestingly and the main thing actual. The same theme on Russian sites: http://pivo.in.ua http://www.alcogol.kiev.ua
  • Garda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12wow, that didn't take long
    it doesn't really matter if it's particularly difficult, if it's possible it means that cheap pirated disks are going to become available on the black market so this is still very significant
    • alephsmith, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2How legal is this if it isnt being used for blackmarket rips?
      Ie if it is actually used for backups.

      Ignoring the DMCA of course.
    • Garda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5yea, i hope that muslix64 isn't american because the entire content industry is going to be REALLY ***** off with him now
    • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18The DCMA does not mean ***** outside of the US.
    • Chordonblue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13"The DCMA does not mean ***** outside of the US."

      Technically, you are correct, realistically the DMCA has directly affected the copywrite laws written in most countries. See the EU and Australia for excellent examples. It's almost like they pulled the language word for word in spots.

      The Hollywood lobby is VERY strong, strong enough to influence laws worldwide. In fact, digital entertainment media appears to be the U.S.'s number one export now. Think our government wants to lose out on all that revenue? As usual, it all comes down to the almighty dollar.
    • gummih, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Almost as strong as two swedish geeks at the pirate bay even?
      And the dollar is dead - sorry.
    • ICSU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I very much doubt there will be any pirated hd dvd's soon. The machines to make them are very expensive and hard to obtain, blank discs are expensive, and huge majority of people interested in pirated discs don't have a hd dvd player yet.
  • Sharkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+46I can't wait to see HD-DVD Rips of movies pop up online, it'll be a hell of a download though. So long 700 megs...
    • hybrid8, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12well with h.264 the file size may not be too big, but all the pirates like DivXviD YUK!
    • deaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17You probabbly won't see too many HD-DVD rips showing up in xvid format because xvid sucks with high res content. You'll likely see x264 encoded content wrapped in MKV's. And they're going to be larger than the 700 meg xvids for sure. But probabbly compressed enough to fit them onto a regular dvd eventually.
    • Zafras, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5A recent release of a Lost episode in 720p (MKV) weighed in at 1300MB, so I'm guessing a 90~ minute movie could end up around 2.5GB (and that's just 720p...).
    • razordancer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Tube clogging aside, there's no reason to encode a 2.5gb HD movie. You want to maximize your bitrate for your intended medium. If it won't fit on a CD, make it fit on a DVD5. Too big for a DVD5? Make it for a DVD9... A 2.5gb movie is a square peg. I have a friend who has downloaded 1080p movies that are 12gb+... A few years ago I wouldn't have believed that something like that was possible!
    • ronjohnson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Look out ISP's time to invest in some bandwidth shapping software. Who makes that stuff anyway, I want to buy some stock?
    • ken52787, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3HD-DVD rips may be new, but encoded HD movies are not.

      Typically, they are H.264 in the MKV container. Most 720p movies are sized for DVD-5s, while long 720p movies (and all 1080p movies I've seen) are fit for DVD-9s (or two DVD-5s).
    • rewritable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Will someone please think of the tubes before cramming all that stuff in there!
    • ICSU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Short HD trailers (apple) have 50-200 MB's (720p or 1080p).
  • logophilus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I was somewhat wrong. It appears as though there are 6 keys included, for Full Metal Jacket, Van Helsing, Tomb Raider 1, Apollo 13, The Last Samurai, and The Fugitive.
    • SoberEmu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I don't believe that those are actual keys, due to the large number of zeros, the fact that he (muslix64) says that he doesn't want to give any keys away (see faq.txt included w/ zip), and that he blacked out the real keys in the YouTube video (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oZGYb92isE @ about 1:55). The TKDB.cfg was provided as a skeleton to show how keys should be formated to be used by the program, not as real keys to be used to decrypt. (IMHO).
  • sumiguchi, on 10/12/2007, -9/+24That'll be the nail in the blue ray coffin.
    • codyman, on 10/12/2007, -15/+10No kidding... I always preferred HD DVD over bluray anyways...
    • Tenlow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I was just comming in here to say this should help out the format war on the user's side of things. Although it could hurt consumers in the long run, i.e. the movie studios see bluray hasnt been cracked yet so it's "better"
    • deaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Tenlow:
      I'm all for both formats dieing a horrible death personally. But at the same time I see your point and several other people's in assuming that since blu-ray hasn't yet been cracked the studios would switch to it, I don't think it's really that simple however so I don't see it happening. But even if it did happen and all the studios go to blu-ray I can promise you that blu-ray will eventually be cracked as well.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Yeah. Nothing will convince the 4 content producers who support BluRay and not HD-DVD to switch to HD-DVD more effectively than the lure of their content being easily stolen.

      Common sense is a rarity on Digg.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5deaper:
      Every studio but one already went to BluRay.

      HD-DVD is the "go it alone" format. One hardware backer. One (exclusive) studio backer.

      BluRay has Sony, Sharp, Pioneer and Samsung for hardware backers.
      BluRay has Fox and Disney and 3 others (I forget which) as (exclusive) studio backers.
    • deardahl, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8"That'll be the nail in the blue ray coffin." - sumiguchi
      Tool comment of the day!

      "HD-DVD is the "go it alone" format. One hardware backer. One (exclusive) studio backer.
      BluRay has Sony, Sharp, Pioneer and Samsung for hardware backers.
      BluRay has Fox and Disney and 3 others (I forget which) as (exclusive) studio backers."
      - HappyScrappy
      Best comment of the day.

      "Common sense is a rarity on Digg." - HappyScrappy
      You are so right.
    • rsims17, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I am all for getting rid of DRM its horrible in the manner the companies use it. However, this will not be the factor that kills blu-ray. Yes I said it.
      The majority of consumers do not care about DRM, we are not the major of consumers. You are more likely to see the studios pull out of HDDVD because it has already been compromised. True blu-ray uses aacs too, but there are other protections included. This could be the end of HDDVD if the studios cut their relatively small loses and go with blu-ray in hopes of better luck.

      EDIT: Someone said what i did above me.
    • GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not so fast, it's still early enough to where studios can just jump on the other format. Let's see how the industry handles this news first, if they even decide to acknowledge it at all.
    • Arramol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"The majority of consumers do not care about DRM, we are not the major of consumers."

      That's beginning to change. Even non-tech people get frustrated when they bring home this awesome looking iPod video only to find they can't put their DVD movies on it.
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They both use AACS. This same technique can be easily converted to unlock BluRay content as well.

      This doesn't do anything except mean freedom for the consumer, regardless of the format they choose (instead of the one you have an agenda to push).
    • rsims17, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@superkendall

      Blue Ray does use aacs that is true, they also use something called BD+ which allows them to change the encryption algorithm used to protect their content.
      http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/08/10/blu/index.html
      This ability to change the encryption could render the resent crack useless on Blue Ray. Thus making it a much better format to the studios, which may very well cause the studios to pull out of HDDVD and run with blue ray. They both use aacs but they are not the same they have small differences.

      That being said its only a matter of time until it is blown wide open, as it should be.

      @Arramol

      I made came to the conclusion that the average consumer did not care about DRM because their has been no great public out cry directly against DRM in any mainstream media forum. Which is unfortunate that the major do not care. I am curious how you came to your conclusion?
    • WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They only cracked HD-DVD because that's the only affordable next-generation optical drive you can get right now. Don't worry; as soon as an affordable BluRay drive is on the market, that format will be cracked as well...
    • foreplay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@rsims17

      I might be wrong here since in typical digg fashion i have not really looked too much into bd+ but wont changing the encryption used say from aes in hd-dvd case to something else say sha1 be pointless. This attack works by looking for the title key unencrypted in memory. The actually encryption used for the content is irrelevant since there are standard calls in java to decrypt many types of encryption if you have the proper key.

      The encryption was never broken and isn't the weak point here the storage of the keys is and always has been. the keys to decrypt the content have to be present on the disc so can always be work out.

      revocation of the powerdvd key may present more of a problem with new releases I'm guessing.
  • Sharkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think this has to be one of the fastest rising stories ever on digg.
    • jcaino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31for damn good reason.

      this is great news to people that like to back up their legitimately owned movies.
    • streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I don't really care that much about backing up right now as I do about not having to play the MPAA's disgusting HDCP game.

      My monitor displays 720p just fine. If we see this hack rolled into a VLC plugin in 2007, the studios may yet sell me a few HD titles.
  • sh4rkb1t3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+40Suck on that, MPAA.
    • Crackers, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3MPAA - Movie Piracy Association of America :)
  • verifex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I remember way back before the HD media war began that both HD-DVD and Bluray were talking about having a special "connection" required so the player could call home and check for "blacklisted" keys and get new keys. I know that idea was draconian and totally impractical, but can anyone verify that this crack would be permanent?

    What are the chances for a permanent crack solution to the new HD-content discs? I don't have a drive so I can't test this one.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6HD-DVD doesn't have this. BluRay does.

      However, I doubt it'll even come into play here. This key that was stolen has only been used in a small number of HD-DVD players sold (and all of those only software for a PC), so they'll expire this key and issue all new discs as incompatible with this break.

      You'll still be able to pirate old stuff, but new stuff will be locked up again. And the company whose key was expired will have to update their software.
    • AnotherBrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Re: HappyScrappy
      But then the program just reads the new key from what ever playback software is installed or it could retrieve the key from an online database that will be created in 5.. 4.. 3..
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Blu-Ray does not have this either.

      Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support optional connectivity. Both formats use AACS. The way disabling players works is that in the future, if a key is compromised that keys ability to decrypt media will be revoked. So if an HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray) key became widespread, you'd find this utilitty would not work with future movies.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2AnotherBrian:
      I can't necessarily predict the outcome of an extended DRM war.

      But when they start changing these keys, the currently existing cracks will not work on new discs. Someone will have to develop new cracks.

      These discs will remain broken, as the title keys are already published, and once you have those, you can get in no matter what they do.

      Honestly, this "crack" is underwhelming. It's not even automatedly finding the title keys, this is only the de-AACS code, which was never secret to start with and a database of a few title keys. I'm sure there's more to come later though.
    • barius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@superkendall

      You need to RTFA again. The program doesn't use device keys to decrypt the content. You need a device key to decrypt the Media Key (he calls it a Title Key). Only the device key can be revoked, the MK cannot. Once you know the MK that movie is forever unlocked.

      FYI, revoking a device key does not imply that the device suddenly 'turns off'. That device will still be able to play any disks created before the revocation date. New movie disks however, will be created with a new set of media keys that those devices cannot decrypt, and so the device becomes useless for watching (or decrypting) new releases. This of course would force crackers to keep cracking new hardware devices each time a revocation occurs, but apparently the author needed less than a week to crack whatever hardware he was using.
  • ka0tic, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3Well....HD-DVD wins the new media war
  • TheWriteGuy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Ironic that the format which gets its DRM cracked the first could become the winning Hi-Def format. Makes me wonder if the HD-DVD consortium helped to leak this hack out, as the timing seems appropriate (soon after the release of the PS3). :-)
    • streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I like that idea -- Somewhere within the vast network of cubicles from whence the HD-DVD standard arose, there has to be some dude who regrets having sold his soul and after pulling out a faded, tattered, 1997 issue of 2600 from his attic, has rediscovered that "information wants to be free."

      If he exists, though, he'd probably better watch his back.
  • Athens101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9You know I was just thinking how long until we see a OSS HD-DVD linux player. :)
    • JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'll bet you US$5 via paypal that VLC will work.
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Nice, i think maybe that xbox360 and hd player dont sound so bad now? seeing as how the ps3 is over priced garbage, and i cant find a wii
    • heffeque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You don't need the Xbox360 to use that HD-DVD player, that's the good thing if you already own a PC :-)
    • JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If you buy a PS3 (god forbid) and an Xbox 360 HDDVD drive, boot the PS3 into linux, use this hack... you can watch HDDVD on a PS3... right?
  • codyman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Well the probably is blank HD-DVD discs are freaking expensive and also the burners alone are too... but then again Harddrives a cheap and media centers are popular right now, right? :-)
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5DVDs were expensive and burners were extremely expensive 8 years ago.
      Now look at them....
  • wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13While not of great practical use right now, this is clearly a first step. And supposedly, these keys were supposed to be unique, so that if a studio's keys were to be cracked (like this, for instance) the rest of the AACS crew would fine them. Still, though, I do share the sentiment above, although not elequent, it certainly expresses the correct thoughts:

    Suck it, MPAA.

  • Dpack1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Anyone remember when Starforce copy protection first came out, to where pirated games where nearly halted if they used it for nearly half a year... But as with any encryption someone somewhere will decrypt it. Honestly i think Bluray will be right behind this and seeing as neither media is a viable option for mediocre income people (30 dollar movies, are you kidding!?) I'd say it wouldnt matter how long behind Bluray decryption comes out as long as its before the time the players are a reasonable price and the movies/games on that format drop too. Sure HDDVD won this battle but i wouldnt say they've won the war just yet.
    • terranaut, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5How short is our memory? ;)

      DVD's & Pre-recorded VHS movies used to cost more than $30 when they were 1st introduced.

      The prices will decrease given time.
    • JGuest, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3digg down
    • Dpack1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm fully aware that the price will drop and thats my point... If we're to believe that this hacking of DRM encryption on hi-def media is going to win the war then i say it didnt really matter who won this battle unless BluRay doesnt get hacked before said price drop. Only then will people start to purchase hi-def players in any kind of bulk and only then will it make a difference if people think they can save that extra buck on thier pirated movies.

      Though as stated by Skrew just below this, it may of course back fire on HDDVD format now as studios/publishers may tend to lean toward the non hacked format thus giving it a larger slice of the pie pre viable release prices.
    • cornface, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Most of the HD-DVD movies can be had for 19.99 other than the combo discs, which have a normal DVD version on one side.
  • skrew, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11Anyone who thinks this is good for the HDDVD format is crazy. 1 of 2 things are going to happen.

    That specific key is going to be revoked. If the problem is with all xbox360 HDDVD players (likely) then all the keys are going to be revoked and MS will do a recall.

    or

    ALL MAJOR STUDIOS will jump ship to BD only. Its bad enough for them that all released HDDVD titles are compromised, if Toshiba doesn't revoke the keys then HD-DVD is dead.
    • interiot, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Yup. If certain HD-DVD players, or certain hardware drivers, leave their keys visible in memory, then it's almost certain they'll get their keys revoked. You'll still be able to use them to watch older movies, but to watch newer movies, you'll have to upgrade your drivers and/or player software, which will contain updated keys that aren't visible.
    • Civuck, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10doubt it.
    • skrew, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4there was no competing format for dvd, why the hell would any studio release movies on a new format with little installed base that has been cracked when they can release it on a new format with little installed base that hasn't been cracked?
    • netdroid9, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Unless Microsoft can do a firmware update on it's Xbox HDDVD players, that is.
    • spikes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Who says the keys are stored within the HD-DVD reading ROM drives? I doubt that.
      The same ***** can probably be done just as easy with an internal PC HD-DVD ROM/RW drive as well.
    • jjesusfreak01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And even if they do all else right, the key has to be in memory sometime, the hackers just need to find out when...it seems TDK was just a little stupid with their original implementation. Easily fixable. :-)
    • sdbryan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"ALL MAJOR STUDIOS will jump ship to BD only. Its bad enough for them that all released HDDVD titles are compromised, if Toshiba doesn't revoke the keys then HD-DVD is dead."

      Right. Just like DVD-video was doomed after it was cracked because there was no way anyone could make money selling DVDs. (That is, of course, understood to be sarcastic). Just because some dimwitted studio executives think that sprinkling fairy dust encryption on a format is required for success in the market doesn't mean that fantasy has any significant relationship to reality. What this development might mean (if it is as effective as DeCSS) is that people will be more comfortable buying HD-DVD's than BluRay because they can be backed up to hard drives that will continue to increase exponentially in size for a given price.

      Unlike laserdisc and VHS which will often (always?) degrade over time and provide something less than an optimum viewing experience in any case with better, larger screens, we already have DVD's that can be digitally backed up so you only have to get newer formats if you want higher resolution or new features. Before this development the higher resolution formats were unnecessarily tied to a fragile piece of plastic unlike DVDs. Maybe this will help HD-DVD escape the fate of SACD and DVD-Audio which are its audio counterparts that have failed to displace audio CDs. In any case this settles it for me: I'll only be buying HD-DVD's. Sony and the studios that stick with their BD standard can go pound sand. DVD quality is good enough for titles that are BD only.

      [Of course if DVD Jon cracks AACS wide open (as he has implied he will) then that will remove the onus from BD.]

      Incidentally it is probably worth mentioning that the original rationale behind copyright was a deal between publishers and lawmakers to encourage publication to enrich the public domain. Protection from other publishers, ie a temporary monopoly, was provided for a legislated period so that after that period the work would enter the public domain. If the method of publication involves encryption then if it were successfully executed it would preclude a work ever entering the public domain. Why should copyright apply at all to publishers who try to rob the public domain?
  • bunnymanjp, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4isnt this great when piracy can win a battle for you
    im all blu ray though hope it gets cracked soon
  • aegis9975, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3>>well with h.264 the file size may not be too big, but all the pirates like DivXviD YUK!

    H.264 movies (full-length movies) in 1080p are already over 10GBs. 720p movies on are ~6-7GBs; similar sizes in VC-1. Fact is HD-DVD already uses Mpeg4 H.264, VC-1 on their disks, not going to get that much smaller if you want to keep HD resolutions.
    • inkhead, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Actually there are NO HD-DVD discs that use h.264 available. There are several HD-DVDs that use MPEG-2, but at a much lower rate than a similar blu-ray disc. The only discs using h.264, are blu-ray discs, and ONLY PORN, not a single movie has yet to be released in H.264 (minus porn directors). If you want to see a sample, plug in a computer dvi-hdmi to a 1080p tv, and download a highly compressed h.264 1080p trailer from Apple and watch the quality, it blows away something encoded in HV-1 (MS) even when HV-1 is double the mbs
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6X-Men 3 on BluRay uses H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC). I just watched it two days ago.

      The MS thing is called VC-1.

      There's no automatic quality difference, because there's ample space to fit a movie even using MPEG-2.
    • Wilda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually some HD-DVD discs do use MPEG-4 AVC/H.264. I believe all the Weinstein Company releases use it but I can only confirm The Matador since it's the only one I have personally viewed on my HDA1. The Interpreter and U2: Rattle and Hum are also both MPEG-4 AVC/H.264.
  • cw1925, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8So I wonder how soon we can expect an update from SlySoft. Hmmm...
  • drn666, on 10/12/2007, -18/+7Marked as inaccurate - the software doesn't allow you decrypt and HD-DVD unless you have have the actual title key, and it's not made clear how you acquire those.

    Also, AACS isn't technically -broken- ... all this guy did seems to have done is take advantage of the 360 player specifically in order to extract the keys, which he promptly uses to decrypt the content (AES). Microsoft will probably correct this, making this a short lived hack if anything.

    Also, it's worth noting that Blu-ray also uses AACS so a similair technique could be used, but Blu-ray of courses adds dynamically updateable BD+ security in addition.

    Incidentally, it's because of this that Fox/Disney are supporting Blu-ray and not HD-DVD. HD-DVD was always considered to have weak security standards by Fox, who are still ***** at Toshiba for assuring them at CSS (the standard on regular DVD) was "unbreakable".
    • inkhead, on 10/12/2007, -27/+24STOP MAKING ***** UP. PERIOD. You are FULL of ***** *****. I consult for both of the studios you mention on HDTV technologies, and NEITHER OF THEM CHOSE BLU-RAY because of "updatable security". You sir are a LIAR, it really annoys me when some asshole who doesn't know hollywood or has never been inside a studio spurts off at the mouth.

      If you want to know the truth, most of the high-up executives FIND it actually a good thing when their films are pirated, there is little money lost. But they would never say this to the public, but I've been in the room when it's mentioned. Or when some executive at Paramount or another studio laughs about the number of .mp3s he dowloaded.

      Those studios chose blu-ray because of h.264, they weighed their options very, very carefully. I know for a fact we spent about $20million buying transfer equipment for HD-DVD and blu-ray to "test" and prove which one does a better job with transfers, formats, color, feature sets, as well as region encoding, and in EVERY area blu-ray came out on top. The only concern was cost, which obviously isn't an issue because sony is giving the discs away, and blu-ray movies currently cost exactly the same as HD-DVD movies, when they don't cost less. Not to mention HD-DVD can't do more than an hour of h.264 at 30mbs, while blu-ray can do 1 45minutes at 60mbs a second, which MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY. AND IT ALSO means no MORE 20 language version, every language goes on a blu-ray disc, no more 20 version of the disc, they can't do that with HD-DVD.

      Thanks for shutting the ***** up about something you KNOW nothing about. I was there during 99% of all the KEY discussions and only once was security brought up. It's NOT the key issue, the issue is SPACE, and quality. Studios want to show people MASTERS, what they have in the vault, stuff the a lucky few of us have only seen... So shut up you lying ass prick, and i mean "go ***** yourself" by that.
    • Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17@inkhead, has someone forgotten to take their valium today?
      Seriously, calm down a bitty eh?
    • jjesusfreak01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Clear in the FAQ that title keys are on the disc, ripped from memory when decrypted...you sir, are marked as inaccurate.
    • Petronski, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@inkhead:

      Lighten up, Francis.
  • Echuu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6http://youtube.com/watch?v=_oZGYb92isE

    Don't know if the doom9 forum has this link cuz i can't access it and i didn't want to make a new story so here is the video of the guy doing it, enjoy.

    haha beat ya to it :D
  • monkeyness, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1The video makes the point quite eloquently, lol.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oZGYb92isE
  • lordfoul, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1kewl
  • inkhead, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2This is great news, they didn't think it wouldn't be cracked did they? This is well deserved bitch slap to Microsoft & Universal, who sold out to HD-DVD because they both got greedy and didn't want to pay royalities to the mpeg group, so microsoft invented HV-1, in 8 months, while mpeg4 has been developed over 10 years, with 50 billion dollars, and makes HV-1 look like a toy.
    • JGuest, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3they both look great to me
    • fjc8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Nonsense.

      You're talking about VC-1, which provides similar quality to H264 at the same bitrates (but VC-1 has much less decoding CPU usage)

      It's a moot point because MPEG2, H264, and VC-1 are required for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
    • sdbryan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"while mpeg4 has been developed over 10 years, with 50 billion dollars"

      Are you sure about that figure? It seems awfully high. For comparison a NASA Design Reference Mission cost estimate for a lean program for Mars exploration came in at $50 billion. That was for a scaled up version of Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct plan for humans on Mars in less than a decade. It would be plain sad if a comparable amount was spent for such a trivial purpose. I am referring to scale here and not meaning to imply people should not be allowed to spend their money as they choose.
  • daverp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Well... Right about now subpoenas are arriving at Google requesting their YouTube logs and account information. I hope this guy is not in the US.
    • howea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It says he's in Canada, so the spooks will just abduct him.
    • DigitAl56K, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7It makes no difference, he already released the source. It's all over.
    • Lounger540, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Considering all the software does is the same thing that the HD-DVD playing software does, it highly doubt you could put a case to it. The author indirectly says you have to first scan RAM for the disc decryption key while playing in PowerDVD. Much like how the DVD decryption key was sniffed from Xing's DVD software originally. So the software just uses the key to decrypt. You still have to 'hack' your own computer to obtain the clear text key. The key already encrypted itself on the disc and HD-DVD licenses gives software publishers a software key to decode that key, then use it to decode the data on the disc. Some software publishers tend to leave this key sitting in unprotected memory, or so the author is implying.
  • Vektuz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13So basically, this program needs the "title keys" (a unique key for every released DVD title) to rip that specific title, or "Volume Keys" which can apparently decrypt lots.

    However, the "Title Keys", when you insert a HD-DVD and start playing it, are stored in the readable memory of your computer, since your computer needs them in order to decrypt the DVD for you to see it.

    So it won't be long before a program will be out there that simply hooks into the DVD player and rips title keys.

    Followed by a Title Key database (hooray for web 2.0) online.
  • Whackly, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2This is cool but shutup about it until Blue Ray is dead! LOL
    If this gets too well known it'll queer the deal and Sony will win.
  • trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Everyone is saying that HD-DVD has won because of this but did you ever think that maybe the movie studios might be like "oh *****" and jump to blu-ray?
    • inkhead, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4There currently are more blu-ray players in existance than HD-DVD players in homes. When sony released the playstation 3, it put about 400,000 (as of now) blu-ray players in homes, compared to the 50,000 HD-DVD add on players to xbox360 sold so far. And the less than 100,000 HD-DVD players sold.

      Every studio EXCEPT Universal all plan to offer blu-ray. Every computer manufacturer, Dell, Apple, IBM, HP are all blu-ray. Microsoft says no to blu-ray because they didn't want to pay royalties and were angry they couldn't get their "special" internet format on the blu-ray disc, even though they were on the blu-ray camp in the beginning in a big way. But as soon as blu-ray said no to microsoft's easily hackable, DRM ridden internet enabled format, that they wanted blu-ray to include, they jumped ship. That's the FACTS
    • artanis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5inkhead is a Sony shill and enjoys the koolaid they force him to drink
    • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Blu-Ray uses the same encrption scheme (AACS) and so this same technique will work for Blu-Ray discs as well. This offers no advantage to HD-DVD over Blu-Ray, but is great news for conumers, and was also by the way inevitable.
  • deckard29, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7HD-DVD rips in torrents/newsgroups in 3...2...1...

    yay!

  • Netmindstorm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Humm, port to C# and make "nice" Windows GUI frontend or create a Java UI frontend and would also work on linux...or wait for someone else to do both....yeah probably option 3 unless I get really motivated...
    • Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2strictly speaking it should work as-is given its coded in java
  • daverp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2When it comes to this type of cracking, I don't think Canada is a safe place to be.
    • danandre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yea ... he should move to Norway.
      They acquitted the guy who broke CSS protection in DVD's. (DVD-Jon)
  • MaXPL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2so here's the deal... (haha)

    hd dvd gets cracked meaning studios may now jump to bluray for full support. however, bluray will without a doubt get cracked within the next year causing my previous statement to be meaningless.

    i dont know whats going to happen, but this isnt a sure win for HD DVD as some of you are saying.

    this isnt about which tech. consumers want, but which tech. studios feel is most secure. this is actually why bluray has gotten so much support from in the first place; the fact that its got better copy protection than HD DVD.

  • prelude619, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3HD-DVD got pwned!!!! And Blu-Ray is next!!!!

    ~mario
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's not really broken yet. This is the easy part. Getting the title keys automatically is a little tougher. It'll happen though, if you can watch it, your computer can decode it, so it can be broken.
  • wordfan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I don't see what the big deal is. People are already compressing regular DVD videos to a smaller size to be able to transfer and store more of them. What am I missing - movies are being compressed to facilitate transfer and storage. Which means the quality of pirated films could be improved right now, right now, just by not compressing them. So people are going to take HD movies and compress them? Woopty do. How will it be any better if the file is compressed to the same size? (Ok, maybe a scooch better if it's compressing a better source, but nothing to brag about.)
    • radu79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You are right, but some people release the whole DVD image on p2p networks, so now they can do the same about the HDDVD images, so those who chose to download the bigger version can do so. Not that I think it will make that much of a difference, afterall we all watch YouTube and we are generally content with that quality or we wouldn't watch it :D
  • caleb4mj, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I will consider purchasing an HD-DVD player when I watch every last DVD ever made.

    I want 100+ GB storage per disc, on one side. Not designed for audio, video, or any Industry Association of America. Data only.

    Conforming is for the fundis and fans.
  • nunofgs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"BackupHDDVD is a tool to decrypt a AACS protected movie that you own"

    Guess it won't work for me then...
  • nadadingsda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Does anybody have time to integrate this into mplayer?
  • MaXPL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1anyway this guys a bitch, he's probably rocking an HD DVD drive in his pc as he does this. haha.
  • nullptr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23AACS has not been "hacked". The author's source code simply implements the decryption algorithm (documented, no black magic here).

    The only thing of interest is the fact that he extracted the title keys, which he almost certainly obtained by poking around in PowerDVD's memory space.

    The proper title for this post is (probably) "AACS Title Keys Extractable from PowerDVD".

    Now, if the title keys can be obtained and distributed en masse (100,000 titles would require only a few megabytes even with title metadata), then AACS is certainly ineffective, but it's incorrect to say that it is "cracked" or "hacked". Nothing here will lead to a libdeaacs.so that could operate in the absence of a key database.
    • fouad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6ok ... and PowerDVD just got those keys by some magic forces.....

      if you read the FAQ it clearly tell you to read the spec.
      if you do , you will something like that

      3.4 Title Key File
      An AACS Disc shall have at least one Title Key File (TKF) in which each Title Key data is
      encrypted by AES-128E with Ku. Ku is the Volume Unique Key (Kvu). Title Key Files on an AACS Disc shall
      reside in the “AACS” directory. The name “VTKF.AACS”, “VTKF%%%.AACS” and “ATKF%%%.AACS”
      are reserved for the TKFs, where %%% runs from 000 to 999. “VTKF.AACS” is for a Category 1 Disc which
      is defined in the HD DVD-Video Specifications. “VTKF.AACS” is also used for Category 3 Disc if the Disc
      is played back in Standard Content Playback State. For a Category 2 or 3 Disc, a TKF other than
      “VTKF.AACS” is associated with a Playlist. Two or more Playlists are not allowed to share the same TKF.
      There is a name convention: “VPLST%%%.XPL” shall be accompanied by “VTKF%%%.AACS”.


      Take care and read the spec
    • nadadingsda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think you are probably right, he doesn't explain where he got the keys from. However, I'm wondering how a program like PowerDVD can obtain the keys. Can anybody explain how this actually works? If PowerDVD can obtain the keys from the disc, shouldn't it be possible for other applications to do the same?
  • kronix2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8There's no credible argument to deny users the right to decrypt AACS. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs cannot be played back at actual HD resolutions on a HD monitor without a HDCP compliant graphics card, despite there being no actual technological requirement for one beyond restricting consumers' rights. Even without that limitation, people are morally entitled to back up their own films. If I break my disc, why should I pay full price for something whose physical materials are worth £1?

    Now, if only the law agreed with me. In the UK, it's legal to rip music from your own CDs regardless of any DRM - meaning the law doesn't prevent you from cracking or circumventing DRM. As far as I'm aware, the same rights don't extend to films.

    ***** you, MPAA.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The HDCP requirement is enforced by software. If you "crack" the protection, you can bypass that. that is one of the things the studio doesn't want to happen.

      Honestly, they should care, because it will be possible to rip the discs (both formats) long before recoding HDMI to disc and recompressing it becomes cost effective and commonplace anyway.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2er, shouldn't care! I mean they shouldn't care about HDCP or the Image Constraint Token. When AACS is (truly) broken, no one will capture the digital or analog output anyway, they'll just rip it.
  • writerboyVSgod, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13You can almost imagine the board room. The lead security expert standing in front of the long glossy black table with two rows of $1000 suit wearing old white men.

    "And in closing, gentlemen, I assure you with no reservations that there is no way AACS will ever be broken. It is simply not possible."
  • pkenjora, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Wow, that took longer than cracking the PSP format. The boys in Russia are getting rusty.
  • rpetty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@generalleoff

    Your definition of a format war is simply inaccurate. A format war describes competition between competing, and typically mutually incompatible, media formats, usually very costly to the format-owning parties involved. It results from a failure to agree on a technical standard. Perhaps the most famous example was the videotape format war of the late 1970s and early 1980s, between the rival VHS and Betamax Videotape formats. [Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Format_war]

    Many of the studios support both formats and have content available for both. For example, Warner Bros. supports both formats for Superman Returns. http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/.
    • HeatVision, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Your definition of a format war is simply inaccurate. A format war describes competition between competing, and typically mutually incompatible, media formats, usually very costly to the format-owning parties involved."

      By your own definition, you just described HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as a format war.
  • superm1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Glancing at the source, I only really see one windows specific source file. I'd be tempted to go borrow a HD DVD drive from best buy, modify that source file to support unix file system nomenclature, and see how ripping on linux goes....
  • Boofster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Happy Happy Joy Joy!

    Russia FT'mfn'W!
  • jordan1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1dupe:
  • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3It won't be as easy as people are making out. Forget the technical difficulties of the format, Vista (which I assume most people will be running by then) will not be under the control of the user. MS will be using full drive encryption on Vista and will be able to simply lock down any machine that they find is pirating HD_DVD or BD. Hell if they wanted they could lock down any machine that used BT or even OOo or Firefox. The dangers of giving MS control of your machines TPM. Also remember that MS are likely to expand the powers their TC platform provides with updates as well, the worrying level of control now is just the tip of the iceberg. The groundwork is there for much more.

    Maybe if a full solution can be developed then a Unix box could do the work without fear from MS but this won't be of much use for private backups though would end up widely used for piracy. So pirates will be fine its the ordinary user that will lose out in the end.
    • Chordonblue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But see, that doesn't matter...

      It's not like XP is all of a sudden going to disappear off the face of the Earth. Ripped copies will appear on PtoP nets, and if you want to rip it yourself, dual booting is always an option. Where there's a will...

      I think the movie cos knew this would happen eventually (although I'm guessing not so soon!) This protection will not stop the 'pro level' hackers from doing their thing. It WILL slow down copying for the average Joe.
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